Door latching mechanism



April 15, 1941. c. M. JOHNSON DOOR LATCHING MECHANISM Filed June 6, 1959 Patented Apr. '15, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DOOR LATCHING MECHANISM Carl Martin Johnson, Goodman, Wis.

Application June 6, 1939, Serial No. 277,719

3 Claims.

This invention relates generally to the class of locks and latches and pertains particularly to a novel and improved latching mechanism which is designed especially for use upon double doors of the type which swing together on vertical axes or for doors of the vertically sliding or vertically swinging type, such as are commonly employed in garages, and is so designed that such doors may be readily secured at opposite edges by the manipulation of a single control unit.

Another object of the invention is to provide a latching mechanism for doors of the character commonly employed in garages or other buildings having large entranceways, wherein is employed a. pair of oppositely disposed reciprocable latch bolts coupled by operative connections with a. single rotary manipulating unit, with means associated with said unit whereby the latter may be readily locked so as to prevent the unauthorized retraction of said bolts. Another object of the invention is to provide in a device of the above described character, a novel construction facilitating the employment in association therewith of a reciprocable bolt lock of a type commonly employed for the looking of doors of all types, thus making it possible with the presentlatching mechanism to employ any selected standard form oflock for securing the mechanism.

The invention willbe best understood from a consideration of the following detailed descriptiOn taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention is not to be confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawing but may be changed or modified so long as such changes or of Figure 2. a Figure 4 is a view illustrating the application of the invention to a door of the lift-up type.

;Referring now more particularly to the drawing, Figure 1 illustrates the simplest adaptation of the present door latching mechanism, wherethe same is associated with a pair of horizontally swinging doors I, which may be of the style employed for garage entranceways, barns or similar structures. The latching mechanism embodying the present invention when used in association with such horizontally swinging doors is adapted to secure one of the doors at the top and bottom edges thereof, the said secured door being provided with the usual vertical edge flange (not shown) for covering the adjacent edge of the other door so that the said other door will be held closed when the first mentioned door is secured by the latch.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a barrel or drum 2 which is provided at its ends with the flanges 3 and 4. This barrel has a central bore or passage 5 longitudinally therethrough and is disposed when installed upon a door body, with the central bore thereof in alinement with a suitable shaft opening 6 formed transversely through the door. The barrel is arranged with the flange 3 against the door and at the opposite end it has a hub extension 1 through which is threaded a set or locking screw 8 which is adapted to extend into the passage 5.

A shaft 9 extends longitudinally through the barrel and through the door passage 6, the outer side of the door having secured thereto the bushing I!) through which the shaft passes and at the outer end of this bushing is a handle H which is secured to the adjacent end of the shaft and bears against the bushing, as shown.

At its inner end the shaft 9 is coupled to the hub l of the barrel by the screw 8 and an inner handle I2 is mounted upon the inner end of the shaft and secured thereto and bears against the inner end of the barrel at the hub l, as shown. In this manner the barrel or drum is securely rotatably held against the inner side of the door.

The inner face of each of the drum or barrel flanges 3 and 4 is provided with a cable receiving recess I3 and each of the flanges carries a radially extending binding screw 14 which extends into a cable receiving recess for securing therein an end of a cable which is adapted to be wound on the drum. Two such cables are here shown in association with Figures 1 and 2 and are indicated by the numerals I5 and I6, the cable l5 being adapted to extend upwardly, while the other cable extends downwardly and the cables are so started on the drum that when the drum is rotated in one direction both cables will ,be wound up thereon and consequently when it is reversely rotated both cables will be unwound. The ends of these cables are extended into the openings I3 and secured by the screws l4.

Encircling the inner flange 3 f the drum is a split band ll, the ends of which terminate in the ears [8 which are drawn together by a bolt l9 so that by this means the band is clamped around the drum flange to be secured thereto for rotation therewith. This band carries two spaced keeper lugs 20, the remote edges of which are rounded in the direction of the length of the lug to form camming surfaces 2|.

The numeral 22 generally designates a key actuated lock having a spring projected reciprocable bolt 23. her side of the door in such a position that when the latching mechanism is in door securing position, the lock bolt 23 will be located between the keeper lugs and will thus operate to prevent rotation of the drum and the attached band El.

The lock 2; is, of course, mounted so that a key may be inserted thereinto from the outside of the door to effect the retraction of the bolt 23 so that the drum 2 may be turned by actuation of the handle Ii. Upon the inner side of the door, the lock has the usual rotatable knob 24 for the retraction of the bolt 23, the turning of the drum upon the inside of the door being effected through the medium of the inner handle I2.

At opposite edges of the door on which the securing or latching mechanism is mounted, are guides 25 in each of which is reciprocably mounted a door latching bolt 26. spring 27 within each guide 25 is connected with the latching bolt to constantly urge the same toward the adjacent door edge or into latching position for engagement across a keeper bar 28 which is fixed to the floor or to a part of the frame of the door opening in which the door is mounted and against which the door abuts when in closed position.

Each of the bolts 26 has a cable attached thereto, the upper bolt having the cable connected with it, while the cable 16 connects with the lower bolt.

The release of the latching bolts 26 is made automatic with the retraction of the key control bolt 22, in the following manner.

I I has attached thereto a radially extending arm 29 and to the free end of this arm there is attached an end of a link pin 3%. To the inner side of the door in spaced relation with the end of the arm 29, there is secured a flange bracket 31 through the flange of which the pin 30 is freely extended. Surrounding the link pin '30 is a coil spring of the contractile type, one end of which is fixed to the bracket 3|, while the other end is secured in a suitable manner to the opposite end of the link 30. This spring is normally under tension and tends to pull the arm 29 toward the bracket. Thus, when the key controlled bolt 23 is located between the lugs 20, the spring 32 will be prevented from contracting and moving the arm 29 but when the bolt 23 is retracted by the employment of a key inserted in a look from the outside of the door or by the turning of the knob 2 the lugs will be released so that the spring 32 may then rotate the band and also the drum with which it is securely connected. This will automatically retract the door holding bolts 26.

From the foregoing description, it will be readily apparent that the mechanism herein described is of relatively simple design and will op- This lock is secured to the in- A suitable The band 4 erate efiiciently as a securing means for a door structure on which it is mounted whether such door structure be of the usual type supported to swing upon a vertical axis or whether it be of the type which is supported for vertical sliding movement, such as the well known tip-up doors which are employed in garages and like structure. When the mechanism is employed upon the latter type of door, the bolts will be alined transversely of the door as at 38 for engagement with keepers in the vertical jamb. Figure 4 illustrates the slight modification which is necessary in the arrangement of the operating cables when the mechanism is employed upon doors of the tip-up style. In this figure, the numeral 33 generally designates the door per se, the adjacent guiding jambs not being illustrated. The numeral 34 indicates generally the rotatable mechanism which is mounted upon the door and to which the actuating cables are connected. In this form there is employed a single cable 35 which is attached at one end to the drum of the unit 34 and at its other end this single cable has connected therewith the ends of oppositely extending cables 36 each of which passes over a guide pulley 31 adjacent the end of where it connects with the first cable 35. By this means a right angular pull is transmitted to each of the latching bolts 38 from the mechanism 34 so that the desired simultaneous retraction of the bolts may be accomplished by the turning of the drum of the mechanism which may be disposed upon the vertical center of the door at a point a substantial distance above the bottom edge thereof.

I claim:

1. A door latching mechanism of the character described, comprising a drum body, a shaft extending axially through the drum and adapted to be extended through a door, handles mounted upon said shaft at opposite sides of the door, a spring projected reciprocably supported bolt adapted to be mounted upon the door, a cable having an end attached to said drum to be wound up thereon and having its other end connected with said bolt to retract the same against the actuating spring therefor, a key controlled locking bolt adapted for connection with said drum to secure the latter against turning, and spring means normally urging the rotation of said drum in opposition to said last bolt and in a direction to wind up said cable thereon.

2. A door latching mechanism comprising a drum having an axial bore and end flanges, a shaft extending through said bore and adapted to extend through a door to maintain the drum at one side of the door, the drum being secured to the shaft, handles carried by said shaft at opposite sides of the door, a collar secured about a flange of the drum, said collar carrying a pair of spaced keeper lugs, a key actuated locking bolt adapted to be mounted upon the door in position for extension between said keeper lugs, a spring projected reciprocably supported latching bolt adapted to be mounted on the door, a cable having an end attached to said bolt and having its other end attached to the drum to be wound up thereon for the retraction of the bolt against the projecting means therefor, and resilient means normally urging said drum to turn from the position where said locking bolt may engage between said lugs and in a direction to wind up said cable thereon.

3. A door latching mechanism of the character stated, comprising a drum body, a shaft extendadjacent to said drum, means carried by the drum forming a keeper for said locking bolt, an arm carried by and extending radially from the drum, and spring means coupling said arm and the adjacent door together and normally urging the arm in a direction to turn the drum for the winding up of said flexible connection thereon.

CARL MARTIN JOHNSON. 

